Photo Albums

Noteworthy Photography

Burning Flags PressThe website of Glen E. Friedman. Renowned for both his work with musicians like Fugazi, Minor Threat, Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, Slayer (and many, many more) as well as his groundbreaking documentation of the burgeoning skateboard phenomenon in the late `70's, Glen has been privvy to (and has summarily captured on film) some of the coolest stuff ever. He's also an incredibly insightful and nice guy to boot.

SoHo Blues - Photography by Allan TannenbaumAllan Tannenbaum is a local photographer who has been everywhere and shot everything, from members of Blondie hanging out at the Mudd Club through the collapsing towers of the World Trade Center on September 11th. You could spend hours on this site, and I have.

Robert Otter PhotographsAmazing vintage photographs of New York City, specifically my own neighborhood, Greenwich Village.

Big Laughs

The Weblog of Spumco's John K.The weblog of cartoonist John Kricfalusi, crazed mind and frantic pencil behind the original "Ren & Stimpy," as well as "The Goddamn George Liquor Show." Surreal, unapologetic, uncompromising genius.

February 22, 2013

Back to Woody's SoHo

Inspired by that glimpse of the old, arty SoHo (and my maddening search for an implausibly fleeting bit of street art that occurred between the eras of Basquiat and Banksy), I turned once more to Woody Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters," a classic Allen film (like countless other Allen films) that acts as a visual love letter to New York City. Sure, its still rife with signature excesses from the director in question, but it remains a keeper across the board for a variety of reasons. That it captured a taste of certain neighborhoods that no longer exude the same vibe today is only a tiny reason to cherish it.

Released only a year before Spalding Gray's "Swimming to Cambodia"" (and, for that matter, one year afterMartin Scorsese's Soho-centric "After Hours"), "Hannah and Her Sisters" visits SoHo to find the film's lovestruck protagonist Elliot (played masterfully by Michael Caine) frantically pursuing Lee (played by Barbara Hershey prior to those collagen-injections) around the neighborhood. The SoHo of 1986 appears in all its weathered, rusty and comparatively grubby glory as Michael Caine sprints breathlessly through it.

Not that I was expecting to spot it, but that damned stencil does not make a cameo (but trust me ---- I will find further evidence of it). The only thing that's continued to bug me after all these years is the fact that Woody places Elliot and Lee in SoHo, and then has Lee suggest repairing to the Pageant Bookshop, saying it's "only a couple of blocks from here." This is an infinitesimally tiny point, but being that the old Pageant Bookshop (now the Central Bar) was on East 9th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues, that ain't exactly a hop, skip and a jump from the heart of SoHo, where their conversation takes place. Like I said, it's a tiny quibble, but for a native, pedantic New Yorker, it's a glaring oversight (I had a similar grievance with Spike Lee's "Summer of Sam.")

In any case, bitches aside, it's still a lovely slice of the old SoHo (and of the Pageant, for that matter). Enjoy.